UC-NRLF 


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Writing  Business 
Letters  ^?  n?  which 

get  the  business. 


A  group  of  six  special  articles  in 

each  of  which  are  contained 

very  practical  and  helpful 

suggestions  for  making 

business  letters  more 

interesting  and 

efficient 


w 

THE  POCKET  BOOK  SERIES 

Published  by 

THE  OFFICE  APPLIANCE  CO. 

417  South  Dearborn  Street 

CHICAGO.  ILL. 


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LOUIS   VICTOR   EYTINGE 

Louis  Victor  Eytinge,  the  writer  of  the  excellent  articles 
which  compose  this  book,  is  a  life-termer  in  the  state  peni- 
tentiary at  Florence,  Arizona. 

The  achievements  of  Eytinge  afford  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  possibilities  of  a  system  of  prison  management  designed 
to  inspire  self-mastery  in  the  men  witfy  whom  it  has  to  do,  to 
turn  them  from  ifis.  Me  native'*  to  Ztte**  positive  trail  toward  the 
goal  and   to  restore  •twem   to*  usefulness.  •• 

The  writer 'enee  %lh&ugd,t\toi  $om$)lpnient*. Eytinge  with  the 
remark — ''You*hdv'e'*g'o%e**ftirth*er%'thdn  arty  man  of  my  ac- 
quaintance." And  VICTOR  replied:  "Only  because  I  went 
farther  the  other  way  than  any  man  of  your  acquaintance. ,} 

The  misdirected  energies  of  Louis  Victor  Eytinge's  youth 
landed  him  in  the  reform  school  at  an  early  age.  Behind  him 
at  twenty-eight  was  a  five  years'  sentence  in  the  Ohio  state 
penitentiary — for  forgery.  A  few  years  later,  broken  in  health 
and  out  of  harmony  with  life,  he  tvas  in  the  West  and  presently 
involved  in  troubles  which  culminated  in  the  crowning  disaster 
of  his  eventful  career. 


Out  of  this  disaster  has  come  a  new  Louis  Victor  Eytinge 
— useful  citizen. 

Like  many  another,  Eytinge  found  himself  through  work — 
through  work  and  usefulness  made  possible  by  a  system  of 
prison  management  that,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  has  for  its 
special  object,  the  rebuilding  of  men. 

Under  this  system,  Eytinge,  within  the  prison  walls,  gained 
a  touch  with  the  activities  of  the  business  world,  in  which  he  now 
participates  every  day. 

Compelled  to  depend  wholly  upon  the  mail  for  the  establish- 
ment of  business  relations,  Eytinge  became  a  student  atnd 
analysist  of  business  letters  and  business  literature.  Personal 
contact  was  denied  him.  His  enthusiasm,  sincerity,  courtesy 
and  desire  for  service  must  be  expressed  in  the  typed  page.  The 
postage  stamp  must  be  his  means  of  transportation — he  must 
"GET  INTO   THE  ENVELOPE  AND  SEAL   THE  FLAP." 

The  more  one  reads  the  writings  of  Louis  Victor  Eytinge, 
the  more  one  becomes  impressed  with  the  thought  that  there 
is  no  excuse  for  any  average  man  to  yield  to  discouragement. 
Eytinge,  of  course,  is  not  an  average  man,  but  what  he  is 
making  of  himself  is  the  result  of  a  determination  and  a  fighting 
spirit  which  the  average  man  may  achieve  if  he  will. 

Ill  almost  unto  death  with  tuberculosis,  cast  into  prison 
charged  with  a  capital  crime  and  escaping  death  perhaps  be- 
cause the  evidence  against  him  was  circumstantial  and  incon- 
clusive, with  a  record  as  a  bad  man  before  he  was  charged 
with  the  offense  which  causes  his  detention  now,  Eytinge  has 
grappled  with  the  evil  fate  that  has  pursued  him  since  boyhood, 
and  not  only  has  conquered  the  evil  in  himself,  but  has  won 
back  his  physical  health  and  vigor  and  justly  earned  the  re- 
spect and  esteem  of  thousands  of  Americans.  From  surroundings 
to  the  last  extent  depressing  he  has  lifted  himself  to  a  degree 
of  success  seldom  or  never  before  achieved  by  anyone  in  like 
circumstances.  Eytinge  has  looked  death,  disgrace  and  failure 
in  the  eyes  and  has  defeated  them  all. 

In  his  valedictory  to  the  readers  of  the  magazine  Mr. 
Eytinge  said: 


"Three  things  have  actuated  me  in  the  writing  of  this 
series:  First, — the  fine  fellowship  that  has  been  given  me  by 
the  editors  and  their  friends.  Second, — the  love  of  good  letters 
and  my  desire  to  see  letters  more  efficient.  And  third — the 
most  important — the  desire  to  awaken  you  business  men,  you 
tax  payers,  to  sober  thought  on  one  of  the  world's  greatest 
problems — the  prison  and  the  prisoner." 


The  "Get"  Series 

Get  into  the  envelope  and  seal 
the  flap.   J>    J»    J>    J*    J*     J> 

Get  under  the  prospect's  hide. 
Get  a  persuasive  perspective. 
Get  a  good  grip  on  your  prospect. 
Get  the  dotted  line  signed  and 
get  away.  «£  <£  d*  «£  J* 
Get  good  associates. 

This  series  of  articles  was  written  especially 
for  Office  Appliances,  the  magazine  of  office 
equipment,  in  which  they  were  first  published. 


Copyright  1914,  by  Office  Appliance  Company 

OFFICE  APPLIANCE  CO. 

417  South  Dearborn  Street,  Chicago,  111. 


I.-GET  INTO  THE  ENVELOPE 
AND  SEAL  THE  FLAP. 

Embodying  some  suggestions  for  putting  more 
of  yourself  in  your  business  letters, 

YOUR  letters  are  running  too  much  to  brain  and  not 
enough  to  heart. 
The  president  of  a  Colorado  jobbing  house  re- 
cently wrote  me  for  a  set  of  rules  on  successful  sales-letter 
construction  and  said  he  had  read  and  studied  everything 
on  commercial  correspondence,  but  could  not  secure  real 
results.  This  was  my  answer  to  him :  "Get  into  the  en- 
velope and  seal  the  flap  after  you!" 

Your  morning's  mail,  one  writer  says,  engages  your  at- 
tention in  this  order:  Checks,  orders,  correspondence  re- 
lating to  prospective  orders  and  work  in  hand ;  relating  to 
minor  business  correspondence  and  lastly,  advertising.  But 
is  this  truef 

How  often  in  running  through  a  big  batch  of  mail  you 
have  caught  a  passing  phrase,  a  different  note  than  usual 
and  it  left  its  imprint  upon  your  mind,  an  imprint  so 
forcible  that  you  have  worked  backed  through  the  sheaf 
until  you  found  this  letter?  Have  you  not  pulled  such 
a  letter  from  the  tray  and  carefully  studied  its  human 
interest,  its  appeal?  Have  you  not  felt  a  warming  ad- 
miration for  the  writer  and  tried  to  visualize  the  man? 
Does  not  this  human,  man-to-man,  spoken  letter  picture 
the  personality  of  the  correspondent  ?  Do  you  not  usually 
call  your  associates  to  read  such  a  letter  ?  Is  it  not  picked 
up  several  times  during  the  day — even  after  you  have 
dictated  the  reply? 

Words  have  just  as  much  tone  as  the  speaking  voice — 
just  as  much  tint,  as  much  color  value  as  the  painter's 
pigments.     The  weaver  of  words  creates  a  cloth  that  is 


imperishable  and  the  well-worded  sales-letter  has  made 
an  impression  that  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  as  others  of  its 
kind  follow.  If  all  of  us  realized  this,  would  not  our  let- 
ters be  better  for  their  purpose? 

We  know  that  the  personality  of  the  salesman  has  much 
to  do  with  the  selling — and — I  contend  that  the  per- 
sonality in  the  sales-letter  has  more  to  do  with  the  power 
of  that  letter  than  in  the  case  of  the  salesman.  The  per- 
sonality of  the  traveler  is,  to  a  degree,  of  the  visual  type 
— that  of  the  letter  is  of  the  kind  that  appeals  to  the  im- 
agination. It  compels  thought  and  thought  impels  to  ac- 
tion. 

The  salesman  at  your  side  has  life.  The  sales-letter 
must  have  a  greater  degree  of  liveliness.  Dead  limbs 
grow  no  green  leaves — nor  do  lifeless  letters  bring  back 
greenbacks.  A  certain  Jap  in  San  Francisco  wrote  the  most 
effective  sales-letter  I  ever  read.  It  was  written  in  that 
peculiar  "pidgin"  English,  made  famous  by  Irwin  with 
his  Togo,  the  schoolboy!  It  had  personality  plus — the 
living  human  quality. 

One  of  my  fellow  inmates  wanted  to  take  a  course  in 
law  from  some  correspondence  school.  I  wrote  his  in- 
quiries and  every  one  of  these  indicated  that  the  man 
was  a  "warm"  prospect.  Eight  replies  and  eight  catalogs 
were  placed  before  the  man  for  his  choice.  The  one  that 
won  appealed  to  his  heart  and  not  the  head.  It  was  a 
personal  human  letter  that  told  the  convict,  with 
frankness,  that  his  felony  conviction  would  prevent  ad- 
mission to  the  bar,  unless  he  earned  a  full  pardon — but — 
while  saying  that  for  this  reason  the  school  would  not 
sell  him  a  law  course,  suggested  that  he  make  use  of  his 
evident  energy  by  studying  some  other  line.  How  many 
friends  do  you  think  this  human  honesty  won  for  that 
school  ? 

A  southwestern  curio  house  wished  to  close  out  its 
line  of  Mexican  drawn  work.     Two  letters  were  sent 


out.  One  told  about  prices,  so  remarkably  low,  and  of 
the  daintiness  and  delicacy  of  the  lace.  It  was  purely 
a  letter  to  the  head.  Three  per  cent  of  replies  resulted. 
The  other  told  of  the  pitiful  plight  of  the  inmates  of 
the  convents  in  Guadalajara,  where  most  of  the  work  is 
done,  of  the  stress  of  the  country  because  of  the  revolu- 
tions and  all  of  which  made  it  impossible  to  preserve  a 
full  line.  There  was  little  talk  to  the  head  in  the  second 
letter,  but  much  for  the  heart.  Over  thirty  per  cent  of 
replies  closed  out  the  stock. 

If  a  salesman  handed  his  card  to  you  with  one  hand  and 
leveled  his  index  finger  at  your  brow  with  a  "look-me- 
square-in-the-eye" — what  would  happen  to  him?  "Where's 
the  bouncer  ?"  Funny  then,  that  so  many  correspondents 
think  they  can  hypnotize  one  into  signing  "the  enclosed 
order  blank"  with  a  long-distance  leveled-finger  style.  The 
strident  hit-from-the-shoulder  letter  becomes  a  nuisance. 
The  so-called  "snappy  business  tone"  has  been  overdone. 
The  pendulum  is  swinging  to  the  more  natural  human 
way  of  talking  one's  letters.  You  would  not  tolerate  the 
salesman  who  thumped  his  fist  on  your  desk  with  every 
breath.  Why,  then,  expect  your  prospect  to  permit  you 
to  punctuate  every  sentence  in  your  sales-letter  with  a 
mental  sledge-hammer  blow?    Waste  basket,  please! 

Business  Built  on  Service. 

Business  today  is  built  on  service  and  the  strongest 
sales-letter  is  the  one  that  offers  to  serve  the  prospect. 
Strong  characters  are  modest,  yet  impress  you  with  their 
power.  The  strong  sales-letter  impresses  the  prospect 
with  its  resolute  ring  and  compels  his  confidence.  Con- 
fidence begets  action  and  orders.  The  prospect  knows 
that  you  are  working  for  your  own  interest — it  takes  the 
human  letter  to  prove  that  his  interests  are  yours. 

Whatever  you  give  the  prospect  he  returns  to  you.  It 
is  the  law  of  compensation.    The  other  day  a  letter  was 


handed  me  and  its  opening  paragraph  ran  thus:  "The 
unquestionable  enthusiasm  displayed  in  your  letter  of  the 
13th  is  certainly  contagious/'  and  then  went  on  with  two 
pages  of  earnest  enthuiastic  discussion  of  a  matter  not  re- 
lated to  his  profit,  but  one  interesting  both  of  us — even 
to  the  dropping  of  his  work  on  his  inventory.  All  be- 
cause of  a  human  enthuiasm  that  demanded  a  kindred 
feeling  and  expression. 

A  lifer,  like  myself,  wanted  to  buy  a  certain  typewriter 
on  the  partial-payment  plan.  He  wrote  a  number  of 
houses  telling  exactly  what  he  wanted,  the  frank  truth  as 
to  his  situation,  and  that  the  vendor  would  have  to  de- 
pend for  payment  on  the  convicts  mere  word  of  honor. 
A  few  houses  utterly  ignored  the  inquiry;  others  sent  a 
bald  blank  to  be  filled  out  with  this  and  that  information. 
One  firm  (may  there  be  more  such!)  packed  a  machine, 
paid  the  express  and  offered  it  to  the  convict,  writing  him 
that  his  entire  frankness  had  commanded  their  admira- 
tion— that  because  of  his  situation  the  terms  usually  de- 
manded might  prove  too  severe  and  if  this  were  so,  they 
were  willing  to  make  such  agreement  as  the  honor  of 
the  convict  might  suggest  and  his  little  earnings  make 
possible.  How  many  machines  do  you  think  this  firm 
will  eventually  sell  because  of  the  humanliness  of  this 
action  ?  What  is  the  advertising  value  of  a  staunch  friend  ? 

That,  after  all,  is  the  value  of  the  human  sales-letter — 
the  building  up  of  a  friendly  clientele.  The  human  in- 
terest transmutes  leaden  letter  thoughts  into  check  col- 
lecting conversations.  Every  one  may  do  this,  from  the 
humblest  mail-order  experimenter  to  the  elevated  execu- 
tive. The  crow  of  the  bantam  rooster  carries  just  as  far 
as  that  of  the  big  brahma.  Of  course,  there's  the  other 
extreme  to  be  avoided,  for  the  most  noisy  stink-wagon 
frequently  limps  home  loser.  The  letter  that  osculates 
the  Blarney  Stone  leaves  a  bad  taste  in  the  mouth.  It  is 
simply  a  question  of  being  YOURSELF. 

6 


Enthusiasm,  faith,  confidence,  courtesy,  truthfulness, 
and  all  qualities  needed  in  business  building  may  be  con- 
veyed through  sales-letters  as  easily  as  in  person.  The 
letter  will  represent  in  every  way  the  product,  the  firm, 
the  personality  of  its  directing  force.  It  is  the  voice  of 
your  character  as  applied  to  your  business.  The  letter  that 
harvests  the  heaviest,  baits  with  human  heartiness  its  hid- 
den hook.  The  human  letter  in  business  is  the  hand-grip 
that  propitiates  your  prospect  toward  your  proposal — that 
puts  a  pleasing  prosperity  in  your  progress — that  paves  the 
path  to  permanent  profit  production. 


II.— GET    UNDER    THE    PROS- 
PECT'S HIDE. 

Wherein  are  suggested  the  uses  of  the  kindlier 
sentiments  in  business  correspondence. 

GET  under  your  prospect's  hide  by  getting  out  from 
your  own  shell! 
Down  South  there's  a  little  fellow  who  loves 
the  warm  sands  where  we  humans  walk  about  in  our  bare 
feet.  You  may  strut  along  as  unconcerned  as  can  be  and 
then  a  couple  of  days  later  you  begin  to  feel  a  painful 
swelling  between  the  toes.  It  will  take  a  sharp  knife's 
cutting  to  prove  that  the  sand-jiggei  has  got  in  his  work. 
He  gets  under  the  hide  by  finding  the  tenderest  spot — 
the  point  of  least  resistance. 

Emulate  the  sand-flea.  Find  the  point  of  contact  by 
which  you  can  most  easily  win  your  prospect  and  build 
your  letter  so  that  it  gets  through  gently. 

The  other  day  I  was  in  the  market  for  desks  and  wrote 
a  number  of  makers  for  catalogs  and  information.  One 
desk  I  had  almost  determined  to  buy — I  was  ninety  per 
cent  sold.  Here  is  the  first  part  of  what  the  manufacturer 
wrote  me:  "In  reply  to  your  recent  inquiry,  we  are  send- 
ing under  separate  cover  our  catalog,  which  will  show 
you  what  a  marvel  of  mechanical  ingenuity  and  cabinet 
work  the  Blank  desk  is.  We  have  been  furniture  mak- 
ers for  blank  years  and  we "    We  this  and  we  that ! 

Did  I  care  what  kind  of  a  mechanical  marvel  the  blamed 
desk  was?  Did  it  matter  to  me  how  long  they  had  been 
in  the  business?  What  I  wanted  was  service,  a  desk 
that  would  help  me  in  my  work,  and  I  wanted  to  know 
how  it  could  do  this,  how  handy  it  may  have  been  for 
this  or  that,  the  time  or  labor  it  would  save.  I  asked 
for  cake  and  was  given  a  crust. 


The  district  agent  of  another  maker  sent  me  an  en- 
velope full  of  slips  and  folders — but  no  letter.  Among 
the  more  than  half  dozen  pieces  of  printed  matter  crammed 
into  a  small  envelope  was  a  little  folder  about  the  desk 
for  which  I  had  inquired.  Everything  went  into  the  discard. 
Not  one  had  found  the  point  of  contact,  and  in  despair, 
I  asked  a  Chicago  friend  to  get  me  something  that  would 
serve  my  purposes.  The  firm  from  which  he  ordered  sent 
me  a  warmly  human  letter  that  breathed  a  spirit  of  ser- 
vice, a  willingness  to  help  me  devise  a  filing  system  for 
such  clippings  as  every  ad-writer  collects,  to  build  up  a 
desk  that  would  help  me  to  make  my  work  easier  and 
better.  They  had  found  the  line  of  least  resistance,  had 
burrowed  under  my  hide  and  the  feeling  is  so  pleasant 
that  they  can  stay  there.  That  house  made  a  friend, 
and  friendship  is  the  greatest  building  force. 

There's  a  tendency,  in  these  days  of  efficiency,  to  elim- 
inate the  "Dear  Sir"  and  "Dear  Madam."  That  is  as 
it  should  be,  for  what  do  these  mean  ?  But — courtesy  de- 
mands something — some  kind  of  honest  greeting  must  be 
put  in  their  places.  Your  letterhead  is  nothing  more 
than  your  visiting  card,  your  business  card,  and,  as  your 
first  words  to  any  possible  client  as  you  enter  his  office, 
are  those  of  greeting,  why  should  not  the  opening  of  your 
letters  carry  some  similar  courtesy?  It  is  decidedly  bet- 
ter if  your  letters  reach  your  prospect  in  the  morning, 
and  you  don't  like  the  "Dear  Sir,"  to  have  them  open 
with  a  cordial  "Good  morning,  Mr.  Blank";  or  if  the 
mail  be  delivered  in  the  afternoon,  to  use  the  "Good 
afternoon,  Mr.  Blank."  Don't  you  feel  the  difference 
between  the  two  openings?  One  is  natural,  honest  and 
human — the  other  an  empty  formality — a  sop  to  custom 
and  the  dead  past. 

The  character  of  the  opening  paragraph  makes  or 
breaks  your  letter  campaign.  It  is  the  letter.  It  invites 
either  further  study  or  a  sentence  to  the  oblivion  of  the 

9 


waste  basket.  Do  you  remember  how,  five  or  six  years 
ago,  we  used  to  open  our  letters  with  a  hurrah  flash? 
We  used  to  think  we  had  to  hit  'era  between  the  eyes — 
to  jolt  'em  into  reading  what  we  wrote.  Nothing  of 
that  these  busy  days.  We  have  reduced  letter  writing  to 
a  scientific  art  or  an  artful  science,  any  way  you  want  it. 
Your  whoop-'er-up  and  smash-'em-out  letters  go  into  the 
janitor's  paper  bin.  Five  years  ago  a  certain  vendor  of 
couches  for  physician's  offices  opened  his  letters  like  this: 

"Doctor,  your  office  is  a  disgrace! 

"It  don't  represent  your  ability  as  a  medico.  Get  a 
Blank  couch  and  make  it  decent." 

Today,  the  same  writer  starts  out  his  letters  on  the 
same  subject  with  a  gentle,  thoughtful,  earnest  approach, 
thus: 

"You  know,  doctor,  how  helpful  a  proper  mental  at- 
titude, on  the  part  of  your  patient  is  toward  your  own 
helpfulness  and  you  surely  realize  that  a  tufted,  sooth- 
ing Blank  couch  would  rest  your  patient  until  you  were 
ready  in  the  consultation  room." 

Notice  the  clever  appeal  to  his  intelligence  with  the 
"You  know";  then  the  introduction  of  the  element  of 
comfort  for  the  patient,  making  it  better  for  the  physi- 
cian. There  is  an  opening  that  shows  brain  .work  and 
heart  interest,  and,  in  all  earnestness  I  urge  that  both 
are  essential. 

One  wants  to  guard  against  generalities  because  these 
lack  appeal.  It  doesn't  pay  to  open  a  letter  with,  "We  have 
sold  five  hundred  of  these  comfortable  Blank  chairs  in 
this  city."  Does  that  produce  thought,  attract  attention 
or  inspire  interest?  Suppose  you  had  started  with  "You 
will  increase  your  own  efficiency  and  make  more  pleasur- 
able the  day's  duties,  if  you  use  a  back-resting  Blank 
chair"?  Would  not  that  be  better?  Is  there  not  an  ap- 
peal that  penetrates,  produces  reading  of  the  entire  letter  ? 
One  thing  the  business  man  wants  these    days  is  ef- 

10 


ficiency  and  not  only  do  you  have  a  talking  point  in  that, 
but  in  making  "more  pleasurable"  the  work  to  be  done, 
besides  the  strong,  selfish  appeal  in  the  comfort  of  a  "back- 
resting"  chair.  Words  in  the  opening  do  not  count  for 
so  much  as  ideas.  Words  are  merely  clothes  we  wrap 
about  ideas  to  make  them  humanly  appealing. 

The  opening  of  the  letter  must  not  merely  attract  at- 
tention. Making  a  man  open  his  eyes  for  the  purpose  of 
looking  at  you  amounts  to  nothing;  you've  got  to  attract 
his  buying  attention  and,  the  best  way  to  do  that  is  to 
create  in  his  mind  a  feeling  of  confidence  in  you  and  your 
wares.  Do  you  recall  how,  in  the  June,  1913,  issue  of 
Office  Appliances,  Ralph  Bauer  told  of  enclosing  cer- 
tified 25c  checks  with  his  circular  letters?  This  was  to 
pay  for  the  prospect's  time  in  reading ;  to  play  fair  for  the 
study ;  to  create  confidence  in  the  fairness  of  Bauer's  offers 
— more  than  all,  to  get  under  the  hide. 

Down  in  Tennessee  a  firm  selling  office  forms,  en- 
closed a  clean,  crisp,  dollar  bill  with  their  circular  let- 
ters! Of  course,  only  a  high  class  mailing  list  was  used. 
Paying  a  dollar  to  get  their  matter  read — read  thor- 
oughly— was  a  profit-producing  proposition.  Most  pros- 
pects would  be  inclined  to  buy  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
that  they  felt  under  obligations  to  the  sender  of  the  bills — 
they  felt  as  if  they  owed  a  dollar. 

One  of  my  clients  goes  further — and  you  are  welcome 
to  use  the  plan — for  he  sends  out  checks,  good  in  every 
way,  except  that  the  amount  is  not  named!  Risky  busi- 
ness sending  out  blank  checks,  you  say?  No — for  there 
is  a  string  tied  to  the  thing.  On  the  back  of  the  check 
is  printed  a  line  stating  that  the  paper  is  negotiable  only 
upon  presentation  at  Blank's  store.  The  check  accom- 
panies a  letter  praising  and  selling  one  kind  of  office  de- 
vice, which  can  be  fully  guaranteed. 

The  prospect  is  invited  to  come  to  the  store,  inspect 
the  device  and  to  bring  the  check  with  him  that  it  may  be 

11 


filled  out  and  exchanged  as  may  then  be  agreed.  All  this 
acts  as  a  teaser.  It  stimulates  study  of  the  printed  matter 
about  the  device  and  brings  in  a  steady  stream  of  busy 
men  who  want  to  know  more  about  the  check  and  the  de- 
vice. Its  merits  are  fully  explained  and  if  he  buys,  the 
binding  money-back  guarantee  is  written  for  the  amount 
of  the  purchase  and  the  same  amount  is  filled  in  the 

BLANK  SPACES  OF  THE  CHECK  AND  THE  CHECK  THEN 
EXCHANGED    FOR    THE    GUARANTEE!!!       That's    all — -but 

the  plan  brings  the  prospect  to  your  store,  where  you 
have  an  opportunity  of  selling  him  not  merely  this  one 
device  about  which  you  center  the  campaign,  but  beget  in 
his  brain  the  desire  to  buy  many  other  things  you  may 
demonstrate.  He  is  your  friend,  for  you  have  shown  him 
something  new — you  have  shown  him  you  possess  ideas 
and  that  you  have  faith  in  the  goods  you  sell. 

The  stridently  clamorous  letter  knocks  your  prospect's 
eye  out — he  raises  his  guard  against  it.  You  come  at  him 
with  too  much  impact.  The  way  to  batter  down  a  guard 
is  to  snuggle  up  inside  of  it.     Contact  accomplishes 

MORE  THAN  IMPACT.      GET  UNDER  THE  HIDE  AND  GET 

RESULTS ! ! ! 


12 


III.— GET    A  PERSUASIVE    PER- 
SPECTIVE FOR  YOUR 
PROSPECT. 

Being  some  suggestions  to  prove  that  there  must  be  some- 
thing beyond  attractive  opening  phrases. 

ONE  of  my  fellow-inmates  was  painting  the  scenery, 
representing  the  Bay  of  Naples,  for  our  next  en- 
tertainment. His  brush  sketched  in  swiftly  and 
lightly  the  foreground  of  water  and  boats  and  lingered 
lovingly  on  the  colors  of  sky  and  Vesuvius  in  the  dis- 
tance. I  asked  him  why  he  merely  sketched  in  the  fore- 
ground and  his  answer  taught  me  a  letter  lesson.  This 
is  what  he  said :  "That  I  may  persuade  the  eye  to  grasp 
the  perspective." 

Too  many  of  us  think  when  we  have  made  a  strong 
opening  in  our  sales-letters,  painted  a  good  foreground, 
that  there  is  little  need  for  a  perspective — for  persuasive 
leading  up  to  the  main  argument.  The  opening  gets  the 
attention  and  that  is  all  the  part  it  is  to  play  in  the  sale. 
You  have  to  lead  up  to  the  main  points — and — take  care 
that  you  lead  gently. 

The  best  leading  agency  is  a  question.  Any  man  who 
can  frame  a  question  that  will  compel  thought  along  the 
lines  of  the  argument  that  follows — that  man  will  suc- 
ceed in  his  letter-sales.  Have  you  ever  thought  of  the 
force,  value,  the  psychological  result  of  a  question?  The 
one  you  have  just  read  is  a  sample.  A  question  is  often 
worth  a  dozen  argumentative  paragraphs.  A  particularly 
knotty  problem  may  be  left  to  the  prospect  to  solve — left 
to  his  imagination  to  picture  a  perspective — if  you  plan  a 
pungent  question;  and,  often  with  results  that  are  better 
than  could  otherwise  be  achieved. 

13 


Suppose  you  are  selling  steel  filing  fixtures  and  open 
your  letter  with: 

"Are  your  letters,  your  papers,  as  safe  as  they 
deserve  to  be? 

"The  Brunswick-Balke-Collender  Company 
had  fifty  thousand  inquiries  burned  in  their  re- 
cent fire  and  the  trials,  annoyances  and  lost 
business  entailed  have  led  them  to  order  Blank 
steel  equipment. 

"What  would  you  do,  if  you  were  to  lose  all 
your  papers,  all  your  records  this  night?" 

This  last  question  is  one  that  is  bound  to  cause  con- 
siderable thought  in  the  mind  of  the  prospect.  He  actu- 
ally is  compelled  to  study  what  he  would  do,  were  he 
to  suffer  a  loss.  Right  then — at  the  psychological  moment 
— when  you've  "got  him  going"  is  the  right  time  to  drive 
home  your  best  arguments. 

Notice  how  the  opening  attracts  attention — how  it  gets 
under  the  hide.  The  next  paragraph — a  simple  statement 
of  fact — is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  mention  of  the 
number  of  inquiries  destroyed  and  the  use  of  a  nationally 
known  firm  name — a  firm  which  advertised  its  loss.  These 
two  sentences  are  but  the  sketching-in  of  a  foreground.  The 
third  sentence — the  hard-hitting,  home-bringing  question — 
is  the  thing  that  leads  the  prospect  to  size  up  the  perspec- 
tive. He  sees  the  picture  in  his  own  mind  and  it  is  up  to 
you  to  argue  shortly  and  quickly  and  close  the  sale.  Every 
word,  every  punctuation  mark  in  the  letter  extract  shows 
the  result  of  a  carefully  created  plan.  How  do  you  ex- 
pect to  have  a  perspective  unless  you  have  a  plan  upon 
which  to  build?  Before  you  write  one  word,  plan  every- 
thing from  greeting  to  get-away! 

Plan  the  perspective  so  that  it  makes  prominent  the 
ooints  the  prospect  ought  to  perceive.  You  must  educate 
/our  prospect.     People  did  not  want  the  typewriter,  the 

14 


adding  machine,  process-letter  devices — they  didn't  want 
a  thing  until  they  were  educated  into  desire.  They  had 
done  business  for  years  without  office  appliances — could  do 
business  now  without  them — but  who  the  deuce  wants 
to?  Plan  an  educative,  permanently-persuasive  per- 
spective. 

Here's  an  instance:  Every  office  man  uses  carbon  paper 
— may  have  tried  dozens  of  brands  and  grades — but  does 
he  know  that  there  is  a  paper  particularly  suited  to  his 
business  needs  ?  When  you  size  up  the  needs  of  your  pros- 
pect in  carbon  papers  and  talk  of  a  paper  designed  to  meet 
his  special  requirements — when  your  letter  educates  him 
into  desiring  that  particular  paper — then  you've  landed 
not  only  his  trade  in  carbons  but  in  many  other  lines. 
YouVe  shown  your  interest  in  his  interests.  You  have 
visualized  your  prospect,  the  class  of  business  he  does  and 
you  have  addressed  yourself  to  his  condition,  his  progress. 

An  addressing-machine  maker  plans  the  letters  that  go 
to  houses  having  difficulty  with  the  pay-rolls  so  that  the 
perspective  shows  hours  and  days  saved  in  the  matter  of 
making  out  time-cards  and  addressing  pay-envelopes. 
Where  speed  in  getting  out  the  circular  letters  is  needed, 
as  in  a  broker's  office,  the  letters  carry  the  question  before 
their  strongest  arguments:  "Do  you  want  to  find  out  how 
the  Blank  will  get  your  market-letters  to  your  clients  two 
hours  earlier?"  A  maker  of  special  keys  for  the  typewriter 
does  not,  at  first,  talk  to  the  employer  of  relieving  the 
drudgery  of  the  typist  (though  this  subject  is  carried  in 
the  later  arguments),  but  rather  of  reducing  the  number 
of  errors  he  has  to  correct  in  the  letters  before  they  go  out. 
He  writes  his  letters  so  that  they  build  a  perspective  suited 
to  the  eyes  of  the  prospect  and  not  to  the  latter's  employes. 

A  seller  of  flat-top  desks,  in  a  western  city,  had  a  hard 
time  of  it  during  the  early  part  of  the  summer,  because  of 
the  competition  between  two  larger  office  fixture  men — 
one  a  steel  desk  salesman  and  the  other  an  agent  for  a 

15 


specially  designed  and  mechanically  ingenious  wood  roll- 
top.  The  steel  desk  man  would  send  out  letters  in  which 
he  pictured  the  wood  desk,  with  its  many  drawers  pulling 
hard  and  sticking  some  in  muggy  weather.  The  special 
desk  man  would,  in  turn,  paint  perspectives  that  pictured 
how  steel  gathered  heat  in  summer  and  held  its  chill  in 
winter.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  became  so  pro- 
nounced that  the  business  men  of  the  city  were  amused. 
The  first  week  of  August,  the  flat-top  desk  man,  who  had 
taken  no  active  part  in  the  fight,  entered  the  arena  with 
trump  cards  in  his  hand.  Here  is  the  first  part  of  the 
letter  he  sent  out: 

"I'm  not  going  to  talk  of  the  merits  of  either 
wood  or  steel  in  desk  construction.  You've  read 
enough  of  that  kind  of  argument  to  make  you 
tired.  Besides,  it  is  too  hot  to  argue  and  I  wont 
knock. 

"But — what  is  the  use  o,  buying  electric  fans 
or  installing  expensive  ventilating  devices,  if  you 
are  going  to  sit  all  day  behind  a  roll  top  that  in- 
terferes with  the  air  movements?  Why  not  TRY 
THE  COOLING  COMFORT  of  a  free-air,  free-from- 
dust- cupboards — free-for-arm-movement,  flat-top 
Blank  desk?" 

The  success  of  this  letter  is  clearly  the  result  of  a  defi- 
nite plan.  Look  at  the  timeliness,  frankness  and  square- 
ness shown  in  his  good  opening.  Study  the  appeal — the 
psychological  appeal,  if  you  please — in  his  question — the 
gradual  strength  developing  perspective — the  mind  picture 
of  summer  comfort  that  it  paints. 

A  dealer  in  a  certain  type  of  office  chair  persuades  with : 
"How  would  you  like  to  have  a  comfortable  desk  chair, 
the  kind  that  will  let  you  draw  out  the  center  drawer 
without  pushing  the  chair  back,  arising,  pulling  out  the 

16 


drawer,  pushing  it  back  and  rolling  the  chair  into  its  place 
again ?"  Another  puts  a  pertinent  appeal  with  his:  "The 
many  interviews  you  grant  every  day  make  the  ordinary 
desk  chair  unsuitable  to  a  better  performance  of  your 
duties.  Why  not  get  greater  comfort,  greater  efficiency, 
with  a  chair  designed  especially  for  your  work?"  A  dealer, 
circularizing  his  prospects  about  a  patent  inkwell,  opens 
his  letters  by  telling  how  much  ink  is  evaporated  from 
the  average  inkwell  in  a  year  and  then  goes  direct  to  the 
painting  of  the  perspective  with,  "If  good  ink  costs  you  a 
dollar  the  quart  and  you  have  but  four  inkwells  in  your 
office  and  these  vaporize  four  quarts  of  ink  during  the 
year,  how  much  money  will  you  save  in  two,  three,  in  five 
years,  if  you  buy  Blank  non-evaporating  inkwells  at  a 
dollar  each?    Figure  this  out  yourself?" 

A  printer  and  stationer  prefaces  his  strongest  talk  with, 
"If  I  can  show  you  how  three  mills — less  than  one-third 
of  a  cent — added  to  the  improvement  of  every  letter  you 
send  out  will  bring  back  ten  per  cent  greater  returns, 
would  you  use  Blank  brains-in-printing  ?"  A  filing 
cabinet  dealer  asks  in  his  second  paragraph,  "Is  your 
filing  system  really  a  time  saver  ?  Does  it  respond  quickly 
and  accurately — or — do  you  have  to  stop  and  think  and 
look  in  several  places  before  you  find  what  you  want?" 
These  are  but  samples  of  painting  the  perspective — getting 
ready  the  scenery  for  the  real  acting  that  comes  with 
your  vital  argument — the  first  act  to  the  development  of 
your  letter-sales-drama. 

Play  well  your  part! 


17 


IV- GET    A    GOOD    GRIP    ON 
YOUR  PROSPECT. 

Wherein  are  presented  some  thoughts  on  keeping  up  a 
strong  argument  to  a  logical  conclusion. 

IN  the  other  days  when  out  in  the  world,  Fve  ridden  on 
cable  cars  going  up  some  hill,  and  often  wondered 
what  would  happen  if  the  grip-man  lost  control. 
Then,  as  if  to  satisfy  my  curiosity,  I  saw  this  happen — 
saw  the  car  drop  down  the  hill  despite  the  brake — saw 
the  wreck  that  resulted  and  never  do  I  want  to  witness 
such  a  thing  again ! 

Some  letters  are  like  cable  cars  in  that  they  start  out 
from  the  office  with  a  clean  cut  swing,  strong  and  virile  as 
they  move  onward — but — when  they  get  to  the  hill,  when 
they  come  to  the  climb  to  the  argumentative  climax  they 
lose  their  grip  and  slide  down  to  an  empty  end — in  the 
wastebasket ! 

A  manufacturer,  starting  a  dealer  campaign  on  a  paper- 
fastening  device,  wondered  why  his  form-letters  failed. 
The  letter  copy  started  out  bravely  and  blithely — it  got 
under  the  hide.  It  led  up  beautifully  to  a  persuasive  per- 
spective by  telling  of  the  success  of  three  different  dealers 
in  as  many  towns.  His  argument — the  crux  of  the  at- 
tack— opened  with: 

"Of  course,  I  fully  realize  that  what  other  dealers  in 
other  cities  did  or  did  not  do  with  this  punch,  is  of  no 
especial  interest  to  you"    Etc.,  etc. 

Right  there  was  the  weak  spot  in  the  campaign — right 
there  was  all  earned  effect  killed — right  there  was  the 
letter  thrown  aside.  If  what  other  dealers  had  done  had 
no  interest  for  the  prospect,  what  was  the  use  of  telling 

18 


about  them  in  the  opening?  What  was  the  use  of  gently 
leading  to  the  critical  point,  if  one  had  to  negative  all  the 
previous  positive  thought?  He  lost  the  grip  on  his  argu- 
ment— his  effort  was  ruined.  Had  the  writer  gone  ahead 
with  the  natural  appeal  he  had  builded  for  with  some- 
thing like  : 

"Cannot  you,  with  your  splendid  situation,  your  friend- 
ly clientele,  your  wide  influence  and  your  volume  of 
trade — cannot  you  do  as  well  or  BETTERf  Surely  you  in- 
tend  trying!" — had  there  been  used  some  such  line  of 
language  it  would  have  been  productive  of  results.  It 
would  have  been  an  incentive,  inspiring  each  dealer  to  at- 
tempt beating  the  other's  record — the  campaign  would 
have  been  a  $ucce$$. 

Another  dealer  sent  out  a  small  booklet  describing  a 
certain  filing  cabinet  and  with  it  a  letter  that  opened 
strongly  and  led  nicely  up  to  his  argument.  He  too,  lost 
his  grip  on  this  hill,  when  he  wrote: 

"If,  after  studying  the  roller-bearing  device  as  shown 
on  page  six — the  interlocking  system  described  on  page 
nine — the  patent  follow-block  arrangement  told  of  on  page 
twelve — if  after  doing  all  this,  you  say  the  Blank  sys- 
tem is  not  the  best — why  throw  this  catalog  and  letter 
into  the  wastebasket." 

Certainly.  Anything  to  oblige,  for  that's  just  where 
it  went — into  the  wastebasket !  Went  there  as  soon  as  the 
prospects  read  the  last  line.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  fatal 
wastebasket  suggestion  was  responsible  for  ninety-five  per 
cent  of  the  wastage  in  this  incident.  Suggestion  is  a  pow- 
erful influence,  more  so  when  a  man  is  hurriedly  reading  a 
letter  for  the  first  time.  Every  word  that  is  seen  will  pro- 
duce an  impression  on  the  mind  and  just  as  positive 
thoughts  produce  affirmative  actions,  so  will  negative 
words  produce  negative  actions.    The  main  value  of  street 

19 


car  advertising  lies  in  its  suggestive  influence — not  in  any 
argumentative  force — that  is  why  most  car  cards  are  of 
a  positive  type.  Study  them  when  you  go  home  today  and 
see  for  yourself. 

Forget  the  word  "wastebasket."  Forget  that  there  is 
letters  and  framing  your  arguments.  Suppose  that  the  last 
quoted  writer  had  made  his  letter  read : 

"If,  after  studying  the  roller  bearing  device  as  shown  on 
page  six — the  patent  interlocking  system  described  on  page 
nine — the  fine  follow-block  arrangement  told  of  on  page 
twelve — if,  after  doing  all  this,  you  are  not  yet  convinced 
that  the  Blank  system  is  the  best,  I'll  play  my  best  trump 
card.  This  is  it:  I'll  put  a  cabinet  in  your  office — use  it 
thirty  days — test  it  out  in  any  way  you  think  fit.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  I'll  come  after  it  unless  you  say  that  it  is 
too  valuable  to  be  without.  Do  you  want  to  find  out 
what  it  will  do  for  you?" 

Now  suppose  that  such  a  revision  of  the  objectionable 
paragraph  had  been  made,  what  a  difference  do  you  think 
would  have  been  shown  in  the  results?  When  you  build 
an  argument  give  it  the  enthusiasm  and  earnestness  that 
fill  your  own  mind.  Never  have  a  doubt.  Be  positive, 
and  you  will  impress  your  prospect  forcibly  and  favorably. 
Yes — you  w-i-l-l. 

All  this  may  sound  like  new  thought — I  hope  so— 
and  it  would  be  better  if  correspondents  were  to  assimilate 
some  of  that  new  thought  before  writing  their  letters.  All 
great  business  executives  are  studying  the  psychology  of 
business.  They  are  beginning  to  find  out  that  their  divi- 
dend dollars  are  earned  by  increasing  their  own  efficiency 
— not  by  taking  advantage  of  the  inabilities  of  others. 
They  are  beginning  to  ask  the  why  for  every  word,  sen- 
tence, act — and — as  they  delve  deeper  into  this  study 
of  the  action  of  the  mind,  they  are  finding  out  for  them- 

20 


selves  how  positive  thought  and  affirmative  actions  are 
making  for  success.  Whatever  I  may  accomplish  with  my 
own  letters,  much  may  be  attributed  to  a  growing  faculty 
for  putting  positive  personality  into  my  letter  work.  It 
is  easy.    Try  for  yourself  and  see. 

Your  argument  must  be  built  on  the  putting-yourself- 
into-the-other-fellow's-office-chair  principle.  The  letter 
must  see  things  from  his  viewpoint,  the  you  angle.  Get 
off  the  spot  so  you  can  see  your  own  shadow  from  the 
other  man's  eyes.  You  may  have  a  dozen  arguments  that 
seem  mighty  strong  to  you — but  they  are  worthless  if  they 
do  not  fit  the  needs  of  the  other  fellow.  The  only  theme 
that  amounts  to  a  snap  is  you.  Dotting  your  letters  with 
a  plentitude  of  WE  and  /  is  not  sprinkling  an  appetizer 
before  the  prospect's  checkbook.  If  a  printer  offered  me 
a  ton  of  miscellaneous  printed  paper,  odds  and  ends,  for 
a  dollar  or  so,  he'd  be  laughed  at — but — if  he  offered  me 
a  pound  of  printed  matter  that  would  produce  profits  on 
my  wares — something  that  would  sell  my  services — then, 
I'd  buy,  no  matter  what  the  cost. 

Smartness,  freshness,  flippancy,  mere  cleverness  have 
no  place  in  the  argumentative  part  of  a  letter.  Make  this 
paragraph  pungent,  pointed,  pithy,  plausible,  pertinent, ' 
penetrating — make  it  real  and  impressive  and  above  all 
make  it  pleasing.  Just  to  show  how  a  few  words  re-ar- 
ranged may  affect  a  campaign,  let  us  take  the  opening  to 
the  argument  in  a  letter  recently  handed  me.  It  was  sent 
out  by  a  printing  stationer  in  an  effort  to  sell  high-grade, 
white  writing  papers  to  society  men.  Here's  the  sentence 
"that  got  my  goat":  "You  may  know  that  colored  shirt- 
ings  are  not  used  for  evening  wear  by  men  of  good  taste 
and  so  it  is  with  writing  papers — only  white  should  be 
used."  Here  is  a  positive  insult !  Do  not  club  men  know 
what  linens  are  worn  with  evening  dress?    Might  as  well 

21 


write  any  intelligent  man,  "you  may  know  that  London  is 
a  city,"  or  "you  may  know  that  Wilson  is  President/' 

Suppose  that  the  same  thought  had  been  dressed  in 
some  fashion  like  this:  "You  know,  as  do  other  men  of 
good  taste,  that  colored  shirtings  are  never  used  for  eve- 
ning dress — so  with  writing  linens.  Tinted  papers  are 
considered  tawdry" — can't  you  feel  the  difference  your- 
self ?  Here  you  have  the  positive  influence  of  "you  know," 
rather  than  the  questioning  "you  may  know"  and  the  pe- 
culiar effect  of  the  "you  know"  is  that  if  the  recipient 
does  not  then  know,  he  absorbs  the  information  you  are 
giving  and  believes  he  has  arrived  at  the  truth  for  him- 
self!!! Straight  goods!  Then,  next  comes  the  associa- 
tion with  the  element  of  subtle  flattery  in  "as  do  other  men 
of  good  taste/'  You  have  not  merely  pleased  the  prospect 
with  the  soft  stroke,  but  have  impressed  your  statements 
upon  his  mind  as  facts,  through  your  own  positiveness. 

Don't  put  all  your  own  arguments  into  one  letter — 
save  something  for  follow-ups.  A  manufacturer  of  a  type- 
writer attachment  designed  to  lessen  shock,  noise  and 
wear,  selects  just  one  of  his  dozen  of  talking  points  upon 
which  to  make  this  coin-collecting  argument: 

"Let's  get  right  down  to  brass  tacks — cutting  down 
your  expense  costs.  Typewriter  ribbons  cost  you  75  cents 
each — you  change  at  least  every  month,  making  your 
yearly  ribbon  cost  on  each  machine  $9.00.  Now  then,  Til 
guarantee  the  Blank  to  save  you  twenty-five  per  cent  on 
all  ribbons — will  guarantee  the  typewriter  feet  for  five 
years.  This  twenty- five  per  cent  saving  on  five  years'  rib- 
bon cost  of  $45.00  is  $11.25.  Deduct  from  this  gross  sav- 
ing the  cost  of  the  Blank  device,  a  paltry  two  dollars — 
and — you  have  a  net  earning  of  $9.25  ! ! !  In  all  frank- 
ness, would  you  not  willingly  spend  two  dollars  to  get 
back  ninef" 

22 


Here's  where  the  colloquial  style  of  presenting  the  ar- 
gument carries  you  along  with  a  swing,  brings  you  sharp 
up  against  the  facts,  makes  you  analyze  his  figures  and 
clinches  it  all  with  an  appeal  to  your  instincts  for  gain. 

Appeal  to  the  desire  for  gain  cannot  be  used  in  all 
cases.  Change  your  appeals  as  vaudevillians  change  their 
acts.  Make  them  fit  your  audience.  Here  is  the  way 
another  printer  advances  his  arguments  to  professional 
men  and  women : 

"You  know  that  your  services  are  equal  or  superior  to 
others  in  your  profession.  Why  not  then,  make  your  let* 
ters  like  your  ability?  Why  not  make  them  stand  out  of 
the  mass?  Clothe  your  letters  with  a  paper  that  repre- 
sents your  individuality  as  much  as  your  raiment  does. 
I  can  print  letter-paper  for  you  that  will  breathe  of  your 
character — your  professional  standing.  Think  how  that 
would  affect  your  possible  clients!'* 

It  is  a  strong  argument,  strongly  put,  with  its  questions 
and  its  delving  down  into  the  hidden  nature  of  the  reader. 
It  pulled  better  than  all  the  rest  of  the  series  of  six  letters. 
There's  a  reason,  too. 

Forget  the  machine,  the  device,  the  article  you  are 
selling  and  talk  of  the  results  it  will  accomplish  for  the 
other  fellow.  That's  the  secret  of  letter-selling,  just  as 
it  is  the  secret  of  the  successful  cash  register,  Burroughs 
adding  machine,  Multigraph,  Addressograph — the  secret 
behind  all  specialty  selling.  Talk  results,  now  and  ever- 
lastingly. Subordinate  everything  else  to  your  argument 
and  make  that  for  one  man  only — the  other  fellow. 

Sometimes  a  horrible  example  can  teach  better  than 
anything  else.  Here's  one  sent  me  from  a  Denver  whole- 
sale house  soliciting  my  business: 

"We  understand  from  Mr.  J.  P.  Blank,  your  Denver 
distributor,  that  you  use  more  or  less  German  silver  in 
your  novelty  work. 

23 


"We  are  headquarters  on  German  silver  and  are  sup- 
plying some  of  the  biggest  firms  in  the  West  with  this 
material.  If  you  are  interested  in  this  line  and  will  let 
us  know  how  much  you  may  use  in  the  course  of  a  year, 
we  will  name  you  a  price,  having  in  view  the  closing  of 
a  years  contract  for  your  needs. 

"We  are  also  sending  one  of  our  complete  catalogs  and 
we  await  your  early  reply. 

Yours  truly" 

A  prize  will  be  awarded  any  reader  who  will  find  a 
single  microscopic  vestige  of  salesmanship— argument 
— reason  why — in  that  wonderful  effusion.  It  is  a  splen- 
did specimen  for  a  correspondence  Chamber  of  Horrors. 
Their  catalog  competent  judges  estimated  to  have  cost 
not  less  than  60c — postage  on  all  matter  was  26c — cost 
of  wrappers,  stationery,  stenographic  and  dictating  ser- 
vice would  have  brought  the  cost  of  their  effort  to  more 
than  a  dollar.  That  firm  may  tell  you  that  letters  won't 
bring  results — that  advertising  doesn't  pay — and  similar 
pessimistic  stuff.     But  let  me  tell  you  the  sequel. 

Some  half  dozen  good  lettersmiths  co-operated  in  re- 
building that  letter  to  the  best  of  their  abilities.  I  pre- 
sented the  resultant  copy  to  the  firm — paid  return  postage 
on  their  expensive  catalog — courteously  suggested  that  a 
certain  named  set  of  books  on  commercial  correspondence 
would  reduce  their  selling  expense.  What  do  you  think 
was  the  gist  of  their  reply?  Yes,  you  called  the  turn — 
they  said  they  would  not  be  interested  in  the  books  because 
they  had  been  taught  the  business  by  their  ancestors — 
that  they  did  not  think  any  outside  writer  could  tell  them 
anything  about  how  to  get  up  letters  about  their  business! 
They  had  lost  not  merely  their  grip  on  business  argument 
but  on  business  progress,  as  well.  You  may  know  all 
about  your  bodies,  but  you  call  in  a  doctor  when  some- 

24 


thing  is  wrong  inside.  By  all  means  call  in  the  outside  help 
— just  as  big  business  calls  in  efficiency  engineers — as  fine 
accountants  call  in  expert  auditors — as  great  surgeons 
call  in  consultants.  The  outsider  is  the  one  man  who 
brings  the  unbiased,  critical  capacity  that  the  producer 
and  seller  rarely  possess.  Get  your  letters  experted  if 
you  can't  get  results — that  should  remedy  their  ills. 

Put  plenty  of  the  resin  of  "reason  why"  on 
your  hands  and  get  a  good  grip ! 


*5 


V- GET    THE    DOTTED    LINE 
SIGNED  AND  GET  AWAY. 

Being  some  observations  upon  the  effective  closing 
of  a  business-getting  letter. 

THE  bee  may  buzz  around  every  flower  gathering 
honey — but  he  gets  there  in  the  end — with  his  end. 
All  letters  that  aim  to  bring  in  business  ought 
to  be  built  on  the  bee  plan — with  the  stinger  where  the 
bee's  is! 

E.  St.  Elmo  Lewis,  perhaps  the  greatest  trainer  of 
efficient  sales  and  advertising  managers,  wrote  one  of 
the  soundest  rules  for  letter  writing  when  he  advised 
salesmen:  "Never  open  something  you  can't  close."  The 
sales  letter  that  lacks  the  clinching  climax  is  like  the 
drunken  man  with  one  foot  in  a  hole,  who  walked  around 
it  all  night  and  wondered  why  he  never  reached  his  home ! 

All  the  fine  openings,  all  the  persuasive  perspectives, 
all  the  gripping  arguments  will  have  been  wasted  unless 
they  are  aimed  to  get  the  dotted  line  signed — to  bring 
home  the  bacon.  The  ship  captain  may  stand  on  the 
bridge  at  sea,  taking  his  sights  and  making  his  calcula- 
tions, giving  due  allowance  to  winds  and  waves  and 
waters — but  the  ship  has  one  aim — the  port  toward  which 
she  is  pointed.  The  commercial  correspondent  builds 
his  letters  for  but  one  thing — that  its  last  act  is  to  make 
port — to  build  business. 

Here  is  the  last  paragraph  of  a  letter  sent  me  by  a 
large  house: 

"If  there  are  any  points  in  our  offer  you  do  not  under- 
stand, we  will  be  pleased  to  give  further  explanation. 
The  courtesy  of  a  reply  will  be  expected,  whether  we 
make  any  sales  or  not,  and  we  trust  that  we  may  have 

*6 


the  enclosed  card  signed  and  returned  to  us  by  early  mail. 
Yours  very  truly /' 

Honestly,  what  would  you  say — what  would  you  feel 
like  saying  to  that  firm?  Why  not  make  the  offer  so 
plain  that  further  explanation  would  be  an  impossibility? 
Never  permit  anything  to  be  misunderstood — when  it  is 
so  easy  to  be  clear.  Yes,  they  expect  a  reply,  even  after 
they  have  insulted  our  intelligence — and  perhaps  the  only 
paper  permitting  such  a  reply  would  be  made  of  asbestos! 
They  "trust"  that  the  order  card  will  be  signed  and  re- 
turned by  early  mail  and  yet  have  given  no  inducement 
toward  producing  such  action. 

A  dealer  in  office  filing  systems  said  in  the  final  para- 
graph of  his  third  letter: 

"There  can  be  but  one  reason  you  have  not  accepted 
our  special  offer  and  that,  the  inconvenience  of  making  a 
remittance  at  this  time.  Because  this  may  be  so  and  be- 
cause of  our  desire  to  see  a  Blank  installed  in  your 
office,  we  will  extend  our  special  offer  ten  days  and  en- 
close another  order  card.     Very  truly  yours." 

Fine  indeed,  isn't  it?  But  one  reason,  eh,  and  that — 
because  you  are  broke?  Honest,  do  you  like  to  have  that 
kind  of  thing  said?  This  form  of  insult  is  more  or  less 
common — is  one  of  the  frequent  causes  for  the  black  eyes 
form  letters  are  getting.  The  thing  to  do,  when  you  get 
such  a  letter,  is  to  write  such  a  reply  as  your  feelings  in- 
dicate— if  the  postal  laws  will  stand  for  it! 

If  immediate  orders  are  not  expected  of  the  letter, 
as  in  an  educative  follow-up  system,  then  the  letter  must 
be  so  built  as  to  permit  of  paving  the  way  for  the  letters 
that  come  after.  One  correspondent  uses  a  testimonial 
letter,  in  a  most  unique  manner,  thus: 

"I  am  enclosing  the  letter  written  by  the  manager  of 
the  Blank  Company.  Read  what  his  tests  showed  him — 
just  as  they  11  show  you — then  return  the  letter  in  the  en- 

27 


closed  stamped  return  envelope  and  tell  us  what  style  and 
size  of  Blank  you  would  prefer  to  try  out  in  your  bust' 
ness.     Yours  for  service" 

Even  though  the  testimonial  letter  was  made  up  in 
one  of  the  faosimile  processes  and  was  more  or  less  de- 
tectable, it  is  a  fact  that  over  forty  per  cent  of  the  letters 
were  returned  as  requested  and  that  fourteen  per  cent  of 
direct  orders  resulted  from  this  very  letter.  One  of  the 
secrets  of  its  success  is  that  much  of  the  arguing  is  done 
by  the  other  fellow  in  the  testimonial  letter  and  not  by 
you.  The  thing  that  was  needed  to  make  the  letter 
win  was  an  adequate  close  that  would  not  merely  ensure 
reading  of  the  enclosure,  but  cause  the  prospect  to  write 
a  letter  in  reply  and  this  reply  was  the  opening  wedge  for 
other  letters.  Despite  the  great  growth  in  direct  ad- 
vertising— in  letter  sales — in  an  understanding  of  the  psy- 
chology of  letter  construction,  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that 
over  fifty  per  cent  of  the  form  letters  passing  over  your 
desk  will  close  with  something  like  this : 

"Thanking  you  for  your  inquiry  and  hoping  to  be  fa- 
vored with  your  order  and  assuring  you  it  will  be  fully 
appreciated  and  receive   our  careful  attention,  we  are, 
Yours  truly," 

Look  at  the  difference — feel  it — in  a  close  that  tingles 
with  ginger — that  galvanizes  you  into  immediate  action: 

"No  need  to  write  a  letter.  Simply  make  the  order 
blank  tell  us  the  styles  you  want  to  stand  in  your  dis- 
play rooms  and  we  will  ship  them  carefully  timed  to  reach 
you  before  the  rush  of  inquiring  customers  begins.  We'll 
start  the  customers  coming  by  our  forceful  circula- 
tion, if  you  11  furnish  us  the  names  of  the  prospects  con- 
sidered likely  to  use  our  Blank.  We  are  ready  to  start 
things  for  you — it  is  up  to  you  to  say  WHEN.  Why  not 
tell  us  to  get  going  today? 

Yours  for  mutual  profits," 


In  the  office  outfitting  field,  two  men  manufacture  a 
similar  product.     One  closes  his  letter  with: 

"I  have  told  you  of  the  good  points  of  the  Blank.  / 
have  given  you  my  guarantee  and  I  hope  that  I  may  hear 
from  you  and  number  you  among  my  customers. 

Yours  respectfully" 

My  client  clinches  his  letter  with  this  close: 

"The  only  strings  on  this  offer  are  those  around  the 
package.  You  have  read  my  offer — can  anything  be  fairer? 
Since  you  are  protected  against  any  form  of  loss,  why  not 
get  that  trial  package  right  away?  You  11  have  the  goods 
on  your  shelves  the  day  after  you  send  the  order  card 
in  your  hand — the  profits  commence  right  then.  Why  not 
sign  the  order  while  the  matter  is  fresh  in  mind? 
Yours  for  mutual  $$$$" 

Which  letter  would  get  your  order  and  why?  Well, 
then,  why  don't  you  write  the  same  kind  of  a  letter? 
Look  at  that  untechnical,  straight-from-the-heart  form  of 
guarantee — doesn't  it  get  under  the  hide  ?  Read  it  again : 
" The  only  strings  on  this  offer  are  those  around  the  pack- 
age" Look  at  the  appeal  to  the  prospect's  sense  of  fair- 
ness in  his  "Can  anything  be  fairer?"  Can  you  get  away 
from  ordering  that  trial  package  when  he  proves  to  you 
that  you  are  protected  from  any  kind  of  loss?  See  how 
he  focuses  the  attention  on  the  order  card  when  he  writes 
"the  order  card  in  your  hand."  And  the  complimentary 
close  is  a  decided  compliment  to  your  intelligence,  for  he 
says  frankly  that  he  is  in  business  for  the  same  thing  that 
you  are — the  making  of  $$$.  He  makes  you  believe  that 
two  working  together,  you  and  he,  can  make  more  of 
those  same  $$$$.  You  too,  will  make  more  dollars,  if 
you  adopt  this  close  at  times — and  mean  it. 

Catch  the  crimson-corpuscle-clinching-close — the  close 
that  takes  hold — the  fair  tackle  that  leads  to  a  touchdown 

29 


on  the  dotted  line  where  it  reads  "Sign  here."  Make 
your  letter  like  your  courtship.  Your  girl,  you  know 
likes  the  lovey-dovey  talk — she  enjoys  the  waist-warming 
— but — when  it  comes  to  marriage,  if  she  is  at  all  the 
sensible  sort  of  girl  I'd  expect  you  to  have,  she'll  want  to 
know  how  you  can  support  a  wife — she  will  want  to 
know  things  before  she  says  "yes."  And,  in  just  the  same 
manner,  your  business  prospect  will  want  to  know  how 
you  can  help  him — what  you  can  do  for  him  before  he 
sends  that  order.  Make  your  close  a  "show  you"  kind  and 
you'll  "be  shown." 

The  manufacturer  who  closes  his  letters  with  a  phrase 
full  of  meaning  leaves  a  lasting  impression.  One  maker 
used  to  send  out  letters  that  ended  with: 

"Our  usual  guarantee  is  given  with  every  Blank  and 
we  trust  to  be  favored  with  a  share  of  your  patronage. 
Very  truly  yours!' 

I  was  called  on  to  rebuild  his  form  letters  and  changed 
this  to: 

"You  must  wear  the  smile  of  satisfaction  or  no  sale. 
That's  our  guarantee  on  every  Blank.  Can  you  ask 
moref  What  prevents  you  sending  that  order  today  f 
Yours  for  more  business." 

Read  these  two  again — read  them  slowly,  giving  full 
value  to  every  word  and  then  it  will  be  apparent  why 
the  second  letter  pulled  treble  the  replies  produced  by  the 
former  version.  The  "smile  of  satisfaction"  is  an  absolute 
insurance  policy  producing  just  such  a  smile.  The  blunt 
question  asking  why  the  order  cannot  be  signed  that  day 
is  very  hard  to  evade.  It  puts  the  thing  squarely  up  to 
you — why  not?  Then  there  is  the  get-away;  the 
"Yours  for  more  business" — and  it  has  a  depth  of  mean- 
ing. It  says  in  effect,  that  the  writer  has  not  the  slightest 
intention  of  wasting  either  time  or  energy,  for  both  are 
busy  people,  you  and  he — strict  business  is  what  he  writes, 

30 


not  hot-air  or  foolishness.  He  stands  for  action  and — 
gets  it.  Contrast  this  with  the  usual,  over-worked,  deadly- 
dull  "Yours  truly." 

If  you  are  knuckling  down  in  sober,  steadfast  earnest- 
ness about  some  proposition,  why  in  the  name  of  truth 
can't  you  relegate  the  expressionless  "Yours  truly"  to  the 
scrap  heap  and  use  the  warmly  intense  "Earnestly  yours?" 
If  you  are  bubbling  over  with  the  fervor  of  a  zealot  on 
the  thing  you  are  selling — why  can't  you  say  so — why 
don't  you  use  an  "Enthusiastically  yours?"  Don't  you 
feel  the  effect  of  this  very  question?  Then  let  out  some 
of  your  own  feelings  in  your  close.  Honestly  now, 
wouldn't  you  rather  have  some  one  who  is  building  up  a 
friendly  business  with  you — a  manufacturer  or  a  dealer, 
say — would  you  not  vastly  prefer  to  have  him  close  his 
letters  with  a  frank  "Yours  for  future  relations?"  Would 
you  not  prefer  that  to  the  lame  "Yours  truly?" 

J.  A.  Underwood,  one  of  the  successful  sales  and  ad- 
vertising managers  of  the  country,  compiled  a  set  of  let- 
ters by  successful  dealers  in  his  line  of  stoves  and  the  com- 
plimentary close  was  an  inspiration  with  its  "Yours  for 
success/'  The  letters  were  a  sheer  success  in  firing  other 
dealers  and  much  of  the  effect  was  secured  in  the  close. 
The  most  inspirational  letter  would  have  been  ham-strung 
if  a  crippling  close  had  been  used — the  effect  would  have 
been  ludicrous  had  a  patched  tail  been  tagged  on,  say  an 
old-fogy  "Yours  truly." 

If  your  business  relations  with  a  man  are  cordial,  is 
there  any  reason  you  cannot  say  "Cordially  yours"?  If 
you  are  absolutely  sincere  in  all  your  statements,  why  not 
use  the  beautiful  "Sincerely  yours"?  This  phrase  has 
been  greatly  abused  and  must  be  used  only  when  every 
line  rings  true  with  the  heartiness  you  feel  yourself. 
Listen  to  the  story  of  the  origin  of  "sincere"  and  then 
give  your  best  judgment  to  its  use. 

31 


In  the  old  Roman  days,  sundry  contractors  were  in 
the  habit  of  waxing  rich  by  filling  parts  of  the  villa  walls 
with  cheap  wax  rather  than  the  more  expensive  marble 
cements.  They  were  safe  for  a  while  since  the  buildings 
were  mostly  erected  in  the  cooler  days.  But  when  the 
heat  of  summer  melted  the  wax,  the  deception  was  ap- 
parent and  all  honest  contractors  put  in  their  agree- 
ments the  words  "sine  cera,"  which  meant  "without  wax" 
— their  houses  were  guaranteed  without  wax  substitution. 
So  then,  if  you  build  your  letters  and  use  wax  in  the  con- 
struction— if  you  exaggerate  and  then  lyingly,  smugly, 
say  "Yours  sincerely/ '  be  sure  that  the  heat  of  close 
inspection  and  time's  passing  will  destroy  all  such  efforts. 
Build  cleanly — without  wax — and  sign  your  contracts; 
when  you  sign  your  letters  use  a  phrase  that  means  some- 
thing— that  bespeaks  yourself. 

Use  appeal — persuasion — power — carry  conviction — 
make  your  close  get  somewhere.  Make  it  get  the  dotted 
line  signed  and  then  make  its  get-away. 


32 


VI.-GET  GOOD  ASSOCIATES. 

A  little  argument  to  show  the  importance  of 
neatness  and  quality  in  correspondence. 

DON'T  be  alarmed — this  is  not  a  preachment.  Still, 
that  old  adage  about  one's  companions  indicating 
one's  character,  holds  good  in  commercial  corre- 
spondence as  well  as  it  does  in  conduct.  In  fact,  more  so — 
for  the  recipient  of  your  letters  judges  you  by  them,  un- 
less he  has  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  your  business 
methods. 

Your  stationery — the  printing  of  the  letterhead,  the 
weight  and  finish  of  your  paper  stock,  the  shape  and  bal- 
ance of  your  letter,  the  cleanliness  of  the  type,  the  style  of 
the  language  used — all  these  indicate  to  the  reader  of  your 
letter  just  what  you  are.  Just  as  you  try  to  size  up  your 
prospect  before  you  write,  so  will  the  reader  visualize  you 
through  the  letter  instruments  you  use. 

A  central  states  firm  paid  a  copy-writer  $25  for  two 
letters.  Their  cheap  correspondence  clerk  so  set  up  the 
forms  on  the  duplicating  machine  that  when  the  letters 
were  mailed  there  were  but  three-eighths  inch  margins  on 
either  side.  You  think  a  little  thing  like  that  didn't 
matter?  It  did — for  not  only  were  the  results  barren— 
not  only  was  several  hundred  dollars  wasted  in  postage — 
but  on  one  of  these  letters,  sent  me  by  an  interested  party, 
I  find  this  penciled  memorandum,  from  the  president  of 
a  factory  to  his  purchasing  agent :  "Buy  no  more  goods  of 
these  people.  They  insult  our  self-esteem.  Some  folks 
have  so  little  regard  for  their  brain-children  that  they 
wont  give  them  decent  dress  and  expect  them  to  please 
strangers.3' 

You  know  you  despise  the  salesman  who  comes  into 
your  office  wearing  horsey,  circus-style  clothing.     You 

33 


know  you  feel  a  strong  repugnance  against  the  goods  he 
offers  you.  A  Chicago  man  told  me  this  same  thing — and 
yet — when  he  sent  me  his  letters  to  examine  and  find 
why  he  couldn't  get  his  message  across,  his  own  letterhead 
was  a  lurid  litho,  taking  up  over  forty  per  cent  of  the 
white  space  on  the  sheet.  It  detracted  from  the  strength 
of  the  letter  instead  of  helping  to  serve  it.  Most  people's 
eyes  were  occupied  with  his  inked  matter,  rather  than 
their  minds  with  his  message. 

This  must  not  be  interpreted  as  meaning  that  I  am  op- 
posed to  advertising  letterheads.  Per  contra,  I  am  a 
strong  supporter  of  the  letterhead  that  is  unusual,  yet  not 
freaky — one  that  tells  a  story,  paints  a  picture — advertises 
and  sells.  I  prefer  these  to  the  ultra-conservative,  stiff, 
meaningless  forms.  But  I  would  have  every  piece  of 
matter  you  put  into  the  mails  representative  and  produc- 
tive. It  is  a  liberal  education  to  study  the  letterheads  used 
by  advertising  men  and  the  higher  class  commercial  sta- 
tioners. And,  since  so  many  of  my  readers  are  stationers, 
let  me  appeal  to  them  to  use  their  best  influence  with  their 
patrons  for  whom  they  print,  that  they  may  prevail  on 
these  last  to  permit  a  greater  latitude,  that  the  printers 
may  produce  more  profitable  papers. 

There  is  more  or  less  discussion  these  days  as  to  whether 
our  form  letters  should  be  filled  in  with  the  name,  ad- 
dress and  salutation.  Some  houses  claim  it  is  cheaper  to 
omit  these  points  entirely — others  have  experimented  with 
them  omitted  and  have  then  returned  to  the  sane  system 
of  filling-in  everything.  The  whole  question,  to  my  mind, 
is  one  of  using  common-sense,  and  that  is  what  efficiency 
amounts  to  after  all.  Do  you  like  to  have  a  form  letter 
handed  you  without  the  courtesy  openings?  Do  you  give 
as  much  attention  to  that  kind  of  circular  as  to  the  one 
that  is  scrupulous  in  its  desire  to  respect  your  dignity?  I 
believe  it  is  the  veriest  nonsense  to  apologize  for  a  form 
letter.     We  recognize  that  it  is  one  of  the  agencies  of 

34 


modern  merchandizing  and  all  the  elements  that  go  to 
give  it  a  better  reception  should  be  used — especially  a  fill- 
in.  But — when  you  make  this  fill-in,  see  that  it  is  ex- 
pertly done.  Most  men  agree  with  what  one  large  firm 
wrote  S.  Roland  Hall,  the  "Little  Schoolmaster"  of 
Printer's  Ink:  "YOU  CAN'T  INSULT  US  WITH  A 
GOOD  FORM  LETTER,  BUT  YOU  HURT  OUR 
OPINION  OF  YOU  WHEN  YOU  SEND  US  A 
LETTER  WITH  A  SLOPPY  FILL-IN."  Fill  in 
well — or  not  at  all. 

Break  up  your  letter  into  eye-pleasing,  easy-reading, 
paragraphs.  Did  you  ever  notice  in  reading  some  work 
of  fiction,  how  the  eye  almost  automatically  skips  the 
descriptive  matter  and  searches  for  those  paragraph  breaks 
that  indicate  the  conversation?  It  is  the  same  way  in 
letterwork — you  can  make  your  paragraphs  so  long  that 
the  reading  eye  skips  to  the  first  break,  with  the  result 
that  part  of  your  story  is  lost.  On  a  letter  that  used  a 
single-spaced  full  page  to  tell  its  story,  with  but  one  para- 
graph break,  is  this  penciled  comment:  "This  chap  thinks 
he's  running  a  race — he  is  out  of  the  race  so  far  as  our 
trade  is  concerned" 

Of  course,  there  is  the  other  extreme  to  be  avoided — 
too  many,  too  short  paragraphs  may  make  a  letter  look  as 
if  it  came  out  of  a  cabbage  chopper.     Judge  the  hysteria 
in  this: 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

I  don't  know  whether  you  will  believe  me. 

I  hope  you  will. 

Of  course,  if  you  wont,  you  wont. 

It's  just  a  little  question  of  FAITH. 

//  concerns  a  book. 

And  it  concerns  $3.00. 

You've  the  $3.00. 

I've  the  book." 

35 


And  so  on  for  two  pages,  almost  every  line  a  paragraph. 
The  associations  in  both  these  letters  failed  to  impress  the 
prospect. 

Clean  type  in  a  letter  is  as  vital  as  clean  teeth  in  your 
salesman.  In  the  office  equipment  field  especially,  should 
great  care  be  taken  to  see  that  the  letters  are  free  from 
erasures  and  mistakes — that  the  alignment  is  even  and  the 
type  not  clogged.  These  are  little  things — but  here's  a 
story.  One  of  my  friends  had  inherited  a  large  sum  of 
money  and  intended  entering  the  mail-selling  field.  For 
upward  of  two  years  he  had  studied  with  me  the  science 
of  business  and  sales-thru-mails.  A  few  weeks  be- 
fore he  was  to  leave  for  his  California  home  to  open  his 
office  he  determined  to  make  the  purchases  of  his  office 
equipment.  He  wanted  two  typewriters  and  a  multiple 
letter  machine.  I  too  was  in  the  market  for  a  new  type- 
writer. We  preferred  certain  machines  and  writing  di- 
rect to  the  manufacturers  our  letters  were  referred  back 
to  the  Arizona  agent,  who  happened  to  handle  both  ma- 
chines. The  agent  had  a  man  on  the  road  to  whom  he 
sent  instructions  to  call  and  see  us  and  in  the  meantime, 
sent  us  catalogs  and  printed  matter.  The  letter  he  sent 
us — well,  least  said  sooner  mended,  were  I  not  desirous  of 
pointing  a  moral — was  written  on  an  old,  worn-out  ma- 
chine of  another  make  and  the  alignment  was  ragged  and 
the  type  dirty.  The  first  impression  caused  by  the 
mechanics  of  his  letter — his  associates  by  which  we  judged 
his  goods — spoiled  an  almost  sure  sale  of  upwards  of 
$500!  Nor  is  that  all,  for  although  some  half  dozen 
machines  are  represented  here,  and  all  of  us  have  kindly 
feeling  for  that  house,  it  has  not  yet  been  able  to  get 
more  than  an  entering  wedge  of  our  business. 

Be  simple  in  your  language.  Avoid  technalities.  Henry 
James  was  a  great  writer — Robert  Louis  Stevenson  was 
a  greater  and  his  work  will  live  in  the  heart  of  the  world 
when  the  former  is  forgotten.     James  could  spin  out  in 

36 


masterly  fashion,  some  single  sentence  to  the  length  of  a 
book's  page,  while  Stevenson  and  'Gene  Field  and  Riley 
and  all  our  loved  writers  would  paint  a  picture  in  a  short 
sentence  of  the  plainest  short  words.  Advertising  is  not 
written  with  Latinized  polysyllables — but  with  short, 
stout  Saxon  phrases.  Don't  maculate  your  merchandising 
mouthfuls  with  marvelous,  multigenous,  mucilaginous  and 
mellifluous  synonyms  and  magniloquent  mannerisms,  for 
this  malversation  is  but  mephitic  mediocrity  with  maxi- 
mum mansuetude.  That  is  a  sample  of  the  sentence  at 
which  one  jeers.  Keep  in  mind  the  little  line  of  Asplet's 
in  the  Addressograph-er :  "Hades  may  be  the  polite  word 
but  the  busy  man  uses  the  shorter  and  more  expressive'' 

Be  yourself  in  your  letters.  Don't  imitate.  There  are 
a  lot  of  brash  chaps  who  try  to  take  off  the  Elbert  Hub- 
bard style.  The  gink  or  gazabo  is  feeding  dope  pills  to 
his  brain-box  when  he  tries  to  imitate  the  shear-artist  and 
word-wizard  who  lives  at  East  Aurora,  and  philosofarms 
new  words  into  being.  No  one  else  can  get  away  with 
his  stuff — unless  it  be  myself  (smile  at  the  joke,  please), 
and  make  it  pay.  No  other  man  could  make  the  Elbert 
Hubbard  brand  bring  back  spondulics.  Create  your  own 
style  and  it  will  win  just  as  willingly  as  would  you  in 
person.  But — while  preserving  every  bit  of  your  person- 
ality and  injecting  it  into  the  vitals  of  your  letters,  take 
care  that  these  letters  are  on  the  level  of  the  men  or  class 
to  whom  you  write. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  the  "colloquial"  letter — one 
that  reads  as  if  you  were  talking — but  it  would  be  a 
grave  mistake  to  send  a  slangy  letter  to  some  staid  con- 
servative whose  backbone  is  the  ramrod  of  his  dignity. 
And,  it  would  be  just  as  much  an  error  to  send  a  Profes- 
sor High  Brow  letter  to  some  'Chuck*  Connors  of  the 
Bowery.  But — don't  forget  that  all  classes  are  easiest 
moved  by  the  simplest  things — the  truest — the  purest. 
Caruso  and  others,  members  of  an  opera  company,  visited 

37 


the  Atlanta  penitentiary  W;  autumn  and  sang  for  the 
inmates.  The  singers  were  accorded  much  courtesy  and 
applause  for  their  arias  from  the  operas  of  Wagner  and 
Massenet — but — nine  hundred  men  sat  silent  with  drip- 
ping eyes  after  "Annie  Laurie"  and  "Home,  Sweet 
Home."  Caruso  himself  was  in  tears  because  of  the 
solace  he  had  given  these  men — so  will  you  be  happy 
when  you  see  the  results  rendered  when  you  give  the  sin- 
cerity of  a  soul  to  your  letters.  That  is  the  only  rule  I 
give — be  sincere. 

There  is  not  a  thing  that  has  been  advanced  in  these 
papers  but  has  been  worked  out  to  my  satisfaction  and 
that  of  clients.  The  very  things  I  have  tried  to  give  you 
in  these  articles  are  the  things  that  guide  me  in  my  work, 
and,  just  to  show  you  the  results,  let  me  quote  what  a 
Western  manufacturer  and  wholesaler  wrote  me  last 
week: 

"We  have  used  most  of  the  letters  you  built  for  us 
to  the  best  of  advantage  and  find  them  so  far  superior  to 
the  business(f)  college  style  of  correspondence  that  we 
give  these  letters  credit  for  having  doubled  our  mail  order 
returns!' 

We  are  entering  upon  a  great  era  of  changing 
commercial  ideals — the  world  is  moving  along  toward 
idealism.  Business  men  are  demanding  that  the  guiding 
law  for  commercial  conduct  shall  be  the  Golden  Rule. 
The  letters  that  win  most  are  feeling  this  influence — and 
because  of  this — my  parting  suggestion  is:  If  You  Want 
Your  Letters  to  Pay  Better,  Put  Into  Them  the 
Qualities  and  Associates  You  Demand  for  Your 
Daily  Life — Especially  the  Good  Associations. 

L.  V.  Eytinge. 


38 


A  LOT-O'-CHAPS  WHO  WOULDN'T 
EXPECT  TO  HARVEST  CORN  IF 
THEY  PLANTED  POTATOES 
SEEM  TO  HAVE  THE  IDEA  THAT 
THEY  CAN  SOW  THE  SEED  OF 
IDLENESS  AND  REAP  THE 
FRUIT  OF  INDUSTRY. 


e*       ^       & 


Ike  Millikan  says  every  man  owes  the 
world  a  good  living. 


—A.  HOOSIER. 


39 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  50  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.00  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


29  1936 


M    ^   -A 


— - 


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-A- 


0 

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_0_ 


H 


u 


394447 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


